Focus Magazine

Building permits surge with Pasco’s population

Commercial building permits issued in Pasco edged ahead of last year, while single-family home permits were well above those issued for the same period. And next year’s outlook also looks positive, said Rick White, community and economic development director for the city of Pasco. “Things look good. Food products and distribution activities continue to be…

Residential growth on rise in West Richland

The city of West Richland continues to be a desirable place to live, made evident by the 84 single-family home building permits requested during the first six months of 2017. That’s an impressive number when compared to the 89 single-family home construction permits issued in all of 2016. “This year has been big. We are…

Redefining Kennewick’s downtown areas

A return to small towns and reconnecting to the waterfront is the idea behind the Port of Kennewick and city of Kennewick’s joint project to develop vacant riverfront property. The goal is to cultivate “new energy, vitality, business and jobs and provide a gathering place for people,” said Kennewick Mayor Steve Young. “It’s a major…

Port plans more airport improvements

The new Tri-Cities Airport terminal opened in February 2017 and the Port of Pasco is planning more improvements in coming months. Also on the horizon are plans to develop the port’s 60-acre marine terminal area just east of the cable bridge. The $41.9 million airport project nearly doubled the size of the terminal and brought…

Hundreds of acres available soon in Richland

Work to market 760 acres of federal land transferred to the Port of Benton will kick off in earnest in the coming year. In 2016, the Department of Energy transferred 760 acres of industrial land from the Hanford site to the Port of Benton and 581 acres to the city of Richland as part of…

Dorms, new buildings shape college campuses

By Stacey Denny Columbia Basin College’s new student housing opened in September, and Washington State University Tri-Cities officials expect to open the doors to their new housing complex next year. It’s a sign the Tri-City colleges are becoming destination campuses. Site and weather-related delays pushed back WSU Tri-Cities’ plans for its new 800-bed dormitories, but…

More students mean more schools

By Stacey Denny As the Tri-Cities’ population swells, so have its schools and classrooms. The start to the 2017-18 school year saw student enrollment increases at each of the Kennewick, Pasco and Richland school districts. Kennewick saw the biggest student enrollment increase with 455 more students, for a total of 18,016 students. Pasco School District…

Commercial real estate market: It’s hot

Rusty Morse has been a part of the Tri-City commercial real estate scene for 25 years, and while he’s seen plenty of growth in the area, he said the last five to 10 years have been phenomenal. “It just continues to grow,” said Morse, managing broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial. “I look at my production,…

Tri-Cities’ population climbs 1.7 percent

The Tri-City area’s population grew by 1.7 percent over last year to 283,830 people. That’s up from 279,170 last year, according to the state Office of Financial Management’s data released June 30, 2017. Since 2000, the population of the Tri-Cities metropolitan area — which includes all of Benton and Franklin counties —jumped about 48 percent,…